NICOLAS PARTY
b. 1980, SwitzerlandBorn in Lausanne in 1980, Party is a figurative painter who has achieved critical admiration for bold and otherworldly landscapes, portraits, and still lifes that simultaneously celebrate and challenge conventions of representational painting. His works are primarily created in soft pastel, an idiosyncratic choice of medium in the 21st century, and one that allows for exceptional degrees of intensity and fluidity in his depictions of objects both natural and manmade. Transforming these objects into abstracted, biomorphic shapes, Party suggests deeper connections and meanings. His unique visual language has coalesced in a universe of fantastical characters and motifs where perspective is heightened and skewed to uncanny effect.
In addition to paintings, Party creates public murals, pietra dura, ceramics, installation works, and sculptures, including painted busts and body parts that allude to the famous fragments of ancient Greece and Rome. His brightly-coloured androgynous figures vary in scale from the handheld to the monumental, and are displayed on tromp l’oeil marble plinths of differing heights that upend conventional perspective. Party’s early interest in graffiti and murals–his projects in this arena have included major commissions for the Dallas Museum of Art and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles–has led to a particular approach to the installation and presentation of his work. He routinely deploys colour and makes architectural interventions in exhibitions spaces in order to construct enveloping experiences for the viewer.
The artist’s childhood in Switzerland imprinted upon him an early fascination with landscape and the natural world, and the influence of his native country places Party firmly within the trajectory of central European landscape painting. Points of reference in his work include celebrated 19th century Swiss artists Félix Vallotton, Ferdinand Hodler, and to the figurative watercolour painter Hans Emmenegger. While Party eschews notions of direct influence from established historical movements, one can find within his works a 21st century synthesis of the sorts of impulses and ideas that fuelled Symbolism, Surrealism, and The New York School, the compositional strategies of Rene Magritte and Giorgio Morandi, and the visions of such self-taught artists as Louis Eilshemius and Milton Avery.
Based in New York and Brussels, Party studied at the Lausanne School of Art in Switzerland before receiving his MFA from Glasgow School of Art in Scotland.
Courtesy Hauser & Wirth
Recently Exhibited
Exhibiting Elsewhere
Works Elsewhere
Nicolas Party in Ocula Magazine
Explore and Follow Artists Shaping Contemporary Art
A respected voice in contemporary art discourse.
Focusing on ambitious storytelling and insightful art-world commentary. Ocula Magazine publishes in-depth interviews, critical essays and timely analysis on the artists, exhibitions and ideas driving the global art world.
Learn more about Ocula Magazine
Showcasing the best of the art world.
Ocula partners with galleries from around the world to highlight their artists, artworks and exhibitions. Gallery membership is by application and invitation, with each member vetted by an independent panel.
Learn more about Ocula Membership
Specialises in the sale of major artworks.
Led by a team with deep ties to the world’s leading auction houses, galleries and collectors. Ocula’s advisory team offers bespoke services to high-net-worth clients from around the world who are looking to acquire the best of contemporary and modern art.
Learn more about our team and services